The drawing is freely drawn in graphite without any wash, presumably from life. In the left foreground there is a bow view of a Dutch ship becalmed. She is numbered ‘18’ and inscribed below ‘Jan Everts’. She flies a flag at the main and a pennant at the fore. Three boats are pulling towards her. On the right is a frigate and beyond her a ship numbered ‘19’. The reference to ‘Jan Everts’ is presumably to Lieutenant-Admiral Jan Evertsen (1600–1666) one of the flag officers killed at the St James Day Fight in July 1666. This may suggest that the date of the drawing is fairly shortly before that battle since Evertsen came back into service specifically for this purpose following the death of his brother Cornelis in the Four Days’ Battle, 1–4 June 1666.